Before you whip out the antibacterial hand sanitizer, check this list of not-so-dirty places that get a bad rap.

The Backyard

“Dirt is dirty, but that’s different from being germy,” says Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, associate dean for research at the Columbia University School of Nursing. So what’s okay when it comes to kids? According to Larson, “unless there’s a lot of poop from animals,” crawling around in the grass is perfectly safe. “There are lots of bacteria in your garden, but they’re harmless to human health,” says Wroblewski. “It’s germy, but the germs are not pathogenic.”

Watch out for sandboxes, though, “because cats poop in them,” says Gerba. “They carry parasites your kids can pick up.” If your child has a cut or scrape, keep him out of the dirt, which “usually contains large numbers of bacteria,” says Tierno. “These ordinarily don’t hurt you unless you have an open wound.” Sometimes the organisms may even produce antimicrobial results.

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